


Once Upon a Time in South Bend

by waltwhitmans



Category: Political RPF - US 21st c.
Genre: AU, M/M, first date fic, otp: wait that's my word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23172133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waltwhitmans/pseuds/waltwhitmans
Summary: South Bend was supposed to be a fresh start, so he could strike out on his own, without a boyfriend or a fuckbuddy around to make him miserable. He was not interested in developing a crush on anyone, especially not the cute gay mayor of his new city.AU: Chasten is a librarian who moves to South Bend and falls in love with the mayor. It's a storybook romance.
Relationships: Chasten Buttigieg/Pete Buttigieg
Comments: 15
Kudos: 62





	Once Upon a Time in South Bend

**Author's Note:**

> Do your part to flatten the curve! Stay home and read fluff!

"Not everyone is interested in local politics," Chasten said, pulling a book off the pile and scanning it. Some patrons were honest about the late fees they racked up; others dumped twenty or thirty books into the dropbox and never came back. "If you lived in Chicago for as long as I did then you wouldn't care either."

"Maybe you could just acknowledge that having the mayor come over for Children's Storytime is just a little bit of a big deal," Annie said. She was taking the books Chasten checked in and looking in the catalog to see if they'd been marked as missing or lost. "God, look at this copy of  _ The Da Vinci Code _ . It's been missing since 2010."

"I'm not saying it's not a big deal for you and everyone else who's from here. It's just not a big deal to me because I've only lived in South Bend for a few weeks and I don't even know what the mayor looks like."

"How do you not know what the mayor looks like? Do you read the paper?"

"No, I get my news online, like someone who was born after 1980."

"The morning shows?"

"I don't get up that early. And I only use my TV for Netflix."

Annie checked another book. "Just you wait," she said. "Pretty soon you'll love Mayor Pete just as much as we do. This copy of  _ Alex Cross _ was marked lost in 2007! Who raises these people?"

Chasten was not there to love anyone. He moved from Chicago to South Bend because he was broke and the Chicago Public Libraries weren't interested. St. Joseph County needed a new junior librarian, and you could buy a house there for the same amount as a year's rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boystown. He dumped his shitty boyfriend, packed up his shitty apartment, and didn't look back. He rented a house ten minutes from work and started paying off his student loans. He wasn't interested in love, dating, sex, or commitment. The only person he was interested in was the cute dark-haired guy who ran past his house some mornings, usually in a Navy or Harvard shirt. Once, Chasten had been at his mailbox when the guy ran past. The guy said "Morning!" as he went by and Chasten nearly swallowed his tongue. The occasional encounter with a handsome stranger was all he could handle. 

The day the mayor came for Storytime, Chasten was focused on other projects. While his coworkers buzzed around him, getting ready, he weeded old books off the shelves and tore the barcodes out, packed the books in boxes and brought them to the recycling bin in the basement. As he was walking back from the stairs to the circulation desk, the senior librarian intercepted him. "Chasten, come meet the mayor," she said, taking his elbow and steering him towards the children's room. 

"I'm still working on those withdrawals." 

"It'll just take a minute. I told him we have a new resident of the city here, he wants to say hello."

Fine. Shake hands with the mayor then get back to work. He can have his photo op with the kids. Chasten turned the corner and nearly swallowed his tongue again when he saw that the mayor and the hot Navy runner were the same person. "Mayor Pete, this is Chasten, our new librarian," the director said. "He just moved here from Chicago a few weeks ago."

"You've probably heard this already, but let me welcome you to South Bend," Mayor Pete said, extending his hand. Chasten took it. Firm grip. Soft skin. "How are you settling in so far?"

"Very well, thank you," Chasten said. "What are you reading today?"

" _ Penguin Pete _ ."

"They'll enjoy that."

He was right. The twenty or so kids crammed onto a rug and watched, enthralled, as the mayor read them a story. Chasten returned to his withdrawals but peeked in a few times. Mayor Pete sat on the floor with the kids, cross-legged just like them. The only pictures being taken were by the parents. 

The mayor hung around after the story, talking to people, taking pictures, high-fiving the kids. Chasten was in the middle of looking up the report for the next batch of books to withdraw when he sensed a presence near him. He looked up and saw the mayor. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"There was a little girl, when I was reading - she didn't look like she was having a good time. Is everything okay?"

"What did she look like?"

"Brown hair, a headband with sparkly cat ears." The mayor mimed a pair of cat ears on his own head. "Maybe four years old."

"That's Valerie. She only likes it when you do the voices. You have to do the voices. She's very particular."

"I see. I'll have to remember that for next time." He paused. "So, how long have you been living here?" 

"A little over a month. I signed the lease on my house on the 16th."

"June 16th?"

"Yeah. Exactly a week before my birthday. Why?"

"It's just - have you ever read  _ Ulysses _ ?"

"No."

"Well, the whole book takes place over the course of one day: June 16th. Joyce met his wife for the first time on that day, that's why he chose it. It's my favorite book."

"I don't mean to make you feel unwelcome," Chasten said, "but I do have work to do, so can I help you find something?" 

"Oh, uh, yes actually. I've been reading a lot of nonfiction recently, mostly history and current politics. I'm looking for a good novel. Can you recommend anything?"

He hadn't gone to school and got in such debt to not be able to recommend books. "What do you like? Besides  _ Ulysses _ ."

"Well, I like historical fiction.  _ Wolf Hall _ is one of my favorite books. I don't mind narratives that jump around a lot. I like stories about families that go across multiple generations."

Most people said "romance" or "Stephen King." Lucky for him, Chasten had just seen that week's New York Times bestseller list. "You would like  _ The Nightingale _ , by Kristin Hannah," he said. "It's about two sisters in France during World War II. One stays in the countryside and tries to keep her head down and the other one joins the Resistance in Paris. I haven't read it but our book club was raving about it last week." 

"Sure, that sounds good."

Chasten snagged the last copy off a shelf. The mayor's library card was old, frequently used; the plastic was peeling at the edges. "There," Chasten said, handing him his card, the book, and the due date slip. "Enjoy."

"I will," the mayor said. Their fingers brushed against each other as he accepted his things. "Thank you."

For the rest of the day Chasten tried, and failed, to not stew in his feelings. He kept withdrawing old, dusty, broken books, and thinking about this handsome young mayor who went to Harvard and was in the Navy and cared enough to ask why one kid wasn't having a good time. "So, what do you think of our mayor?" Annie asked.

"He seems nice, he likes books," Chasten said. "He's so...squeaky-clean. Too perfect. I bet he's got a perfect little wife and a couple of perfect kids, right?"

"What rock have you been living under? He's gay. Came out right before you moved here." 

Oh?  _ Oh? _ Harvard, Navy, good with kids, well-read, gay. Clearly he had been built in a secret lab specifically to torment Chasten. "So his partner is, like, a professor at Notre Dame, right?" 

"As far as I know, he's single. Why, you interested?" 

"No," Chasten said quickly. 

"You've got to show me that rock. Must be nice." 

That evening, in his astonishingly affordable house, Chasten resisted the urge to look up the mayor. He kept his phone in his pocket and watched  _ Game of Thrones _ . He was not going to give in. He was going to be professional about this. He kept up his resolve until he decided to check his email, and before he knew it he was looking at Google's results for "Mayor Pete." Not only did he attend Harvard, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and he had been deployed overseas the year before, and there were seemingly hundreds of pictures of him with smiling families and children at public events, and he had clear blue eyes a guy could get lost in. Chasten put his phone down, covered his face, and groaned. He didn't need this.

\--

Chasten began checking his mail in the evenings after getting home from work. He kept his eyes peeled for Mayor Pete at the library. South Bend was supposed to be a fresh start, so he could strike out on his own, without a boyfriend or a fuckbuddy around to make him miserable. He was not interested in developing a crush on anyone, especially not the cute gay mayor of his new city. Blanket refusal seemed like the best course of action. He kept it going successfully for almost two weeks, until the morning he went to put a bill in the mail before going to work and Mayor Pete came running past. His shirt had what looked like the crest of an ancient royal family on it. It wasn't until he got close enough that Chasten could see the words  _ Pembroke College _ under the crest. "Hi!" he said, slowing to a halt. "Haven't seen you in a while. How are you?" 

"Good," Chasten said. "Staying busy. We've got a few hundred new acquisitions that have to be catalogued. You?" 

"About the same. I've been in meetings about the upcoming budget all week. But I've been reading  _ The Nightingale _ and I'm really enjoying it."

"Good. I always like recommending books." 

"Maybe when I finish it you can recommend something else."

"Maybe I can."

What was going on? Were they flirting? Chasten always prided himself on keeping his work and his romantic life completely separate. This was too much. Thankfully, Mayor Pete looked at his watch. "I have to get going," he said. "It was nice to see you."

"You too," Chasten said, and watched him continue his run down the street, trying to ignore the sinking feeling. 

A few evenings later, on a Friday, Chasten was at work, not working, watching the clock tick towards six o'clock. He was leaving at six, stopping at Dairy Queen to pick up dinner, then going home for an evening of junk food and trashy reality TV. He was looking forward to it. At two minutes to six, the door swung open, and in walked Mayor Pete, book in hand and a smile on his face. He was wearing casual clothes, a polo shirt and jeans, and his usual five o'clock shadow was gone. "I misplaced the slip with the due date," he said, handing Chasten the book. "It's not late, is it? I'll pay the fine."

Chasten scanned the book. "Nope, it's not due until tomorrow. You're good."

"I was hoping you could recommend something else? Another novel."

"Sure. Anything in mind?" 

"Well, yes." Mayor Pete cleared his throat. "I was interested in something with LGBTQ themes. If you have any."

He really was newly out, still hyper aware of who he came out to, how he phrased it. Chasten had been there. "I have just the thing," he said, typing the title into the search engine. "I read this book in one day and I cried so hard I stained the pages. Have a box of tissues on hand."

"Okay." Then, after a pause: "You too?"

"I was you when I was eighteen. It was hard for a few years, but I made it through. So will you." Chasten found the book: one copy available. "I'll be right back."

Mayor Pete handed over his library card. " _ The Song of Achilles _ ," he said. "Is that a reference or is this about the  _ Iliad _ ?"

"It's the  _ Iliad _ from Achilles's boyfriend's point of view." Chasten handed him the book, the slip, his card. "You have to tell me what you think."

"I will. But I can't read it tonight. I actually have a date waiting for me."

"Have fun," Chasten said, and watched Mayor Pete walk out with his new book, trying to tamp down the rising feeling of disappointment. At the Dairy Queen, he couldn't bring himself to get out of the car so he went to the drive-through, and watched the Real Housewives with the volume up so he wouldn't have to listen to his own thoughts. 

\-- 

Chasten knew he had no claim on the mayor, he deserved to date and meet people, he had been in the closet for so long and had to see what was out there. On the other hand it was unspeakably rude to be so interesting and friendly and handsome and go out with other guys. How dare he. Chasten coped by re-reading  _ Harry Potter _ and listening to Shania Twain and Emmylou Harris as he deep cleaned his house. All he needed was a sufficient distraction from the mayor, he thought. He thought this until the evening Annie cajoled him into joining his colleagues for a drink after work one Friday evening, and from his seat in the booth Chasten had a perfect view of Mayor Pete and some overly tanned, big shiny watch wearing, bleached teeth asshole laugh too loud at his jokes and lean over the table to touch his arm. He tried hard not to stare, looking at Annie as she shared stories from the circulation desk, or into the bottom of his glass, but he was unanimously chosen to get the next round. Standing at the bar, waiting for the bartender to come back with the tray, he heard that voice behind him. "Chasten, how are you?"

"I'm good," Chasten said, turning around. Mayor Pete was standing there with his date. "Out for a drink with my coworkers. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"We were just leaving," Mayor Pete said, "and I saw you, so I thought I'd come say hi. This is Adam. Adam, this is the guy I was telling you about, he works at the library." 

"Hi," Adam said. He didn't look thrilled. 

"Pleasure." The bartender set the tray on the bar. Chasten handed over his card, tried not to cringe at the thought of how much this was costing him. "Well, I have to get back to my table. Librarians are a thirsty bunch."

"I'll be over tomorrow," Mayor Pete said. "Pick something out for me?"

"I'd love to."

Maybe he was imagining it but Chasten would swear that Adam was giving him the stink eye as he walked out with Mayor Pete. He drank his beer and realized that, apparently, the mayor had been talking about him with a guy he was supposed to be on a date on, and he was coming to the library the next day. There was no getting away from this. Mayor Pete was seeking him out. 

The next day, Chasten was ostensibly going through the trades and catalogs looking for books to order, but he checked the clock every few minutes and jumped every time the door opened. He found the book he wanted to give Mayor Pete, left it on the shelf with the other holds. The mayor didn't walk in until almost two o'clock. He handed over  _ The Song of Achilles _ and said, "You were right. I needed the tissues."

"I promise not to make you cry with this next one," Chasten said, handing Mayor Pete  _ Tales of the City _ . "It's part of a series, and we only have the first one, so if you like those I can request the rest from a different branch." 

"This was a miniseries, wasn't it? On PBS?"

"With Olympia Dukakis as the landlady. I recommend it."

They went through the now familiar motions of checking out. Mayor Pete put his card back in his wallet, tucked his slip in the pages of the book. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"I'm new to dating. I had girlfriends in college but that obviously wasn't going anywhere. I've gone out with a handful of guys but I don't want to see anything of them again. The apps are showing me single men everywhere but most of them can't even hold a conversation. The odds are good but the goods are odd, you know? I don't know how to act around someone I'm actually interested in."

"It just takes practice," Chasten said. He was dimly aware that maybe this conversation was heading somewhere he hadn't dared hope it would go. "You have to be honest with him. Tell him what you're looking for. If it's not a good fit, you'll know. Trust me."

"Would you like to go out with me next Friday?" 

"What? Wait, what, did you just ask me out?"

"I did. And I'm hoping you'll say yes." 

"So you're not going to see what's-his-name again?"

"No. All he talked about was his finance job, and he was a terrible kisser. Did you ever mash a plate of warm Jello onto your mouth? That's how it felt." Mayor Pete let himself smile, just a tiny rise at the corner of his mouth. "And all I talked about was you. So I guess I was showing my hand."

"I guess you were."

"So, will you? It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just drinks. I'd like to get to know you better."

Technically, Chasten was an employee of the city. The city clerk's office processed his paychecks. There was possibly a conflict of interest for a city employee to go on a date with the mayor. Screw it. "I'd love to," Chasten said, and saw Mayor Pete - or just Pete, now - relax. "Friday, around six? Show me your favorite spot. I'm still new here."

"Absolutely," Pete said. "I'll pick you up at six." 

If Chasten wasn't mistaken, Pete had a little spring in his step as he left. He nearly walked into the door, too. 

\--

The rest of the week crawled by. Chasten left work at five on Friday, without telling anyone what he was doing that evening. He went home to change, and waited for Pete to arrive. He was looking out the living room window when a lime green Toyota pulled up to the curb at 5:59, and Pete jumped out. He was wearing a different polo. Chasten went to the door, opened it, and heard Pete say "Howdy!" at the same time as he was saying the same thing. "Wait, that's my word," Chasten said, playfully. He hoped he sounded playful. 

"I guess you'll have to share," Pete said. "You ready?" 

"Let's go."

In the car, Chasten looked out the window as the city went past. He'd been living there for over two months and still barely knew it. He went to work, to the Starbucks near work, and home. And now he was on a date with the mayor. "So, where are we going?"

"There's an Irish pub on North Main Street, Fiddler's Hearth. It's got a nice atmosphere."

Nice, indeed. The bartender offered Pete a free beer, but he insisted on paying for both his Guinness and Chasten's hard cider. They found a table near the back corner. "Cheers," Chasten said, clinking his glass against Pete's. A little cider sloshed out onto his fingers. "So how long did you want to ask me out?"

"Wow, you don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"I'm sitting here with the mayor of the city, on a date. The time for beating around the bush is over." 

Pete sipped his beer. The glass dripped condensation onto the table. "Well, the first time I saw you was when I ran by your house. At first I was pleasantly surprised that the 'For Rent' sign had been taken away, then I looked over and saw you standing by your mailbox. You looked at me, I saw you, and my first thought was, 'Oh, he's cute!'"

Chasten couldn't hold back a laugh. "Seriously? That's what you thought?"

"Yes! That was my first impression. The house was now occupied and the new occupant was cute. I was shocked to meet you at the library."

"You were shocked? I nearly swallowed my tongue."

"Anyway, the reason it took me so long to ask you out is because I didn't you if you had a boyfriend or if you were even gay. But I thought I was telegraphing my interest pretty hard." 

"You were." Chasten drank some of his cider. "You're the one running past my house and coming into my work, you know."

Over the course of the first drink, Pete explained that he'd been using dating apps to meet single guys, usually from Chicago or at least out of town, because a mayor trying to find a date in his own city was an ethical minefield. He could ask someone out for coffee or dinner and they might not know what he meant, or there would be some kind of conflict of interest. Hinge, OKCupid, and Tinder were serving up men on a platter, but none of them had been a good match. "To be honest, I've been forcing myself to go out almost every weekend with some guy and every time I go home feeling like I've wasted an evening."

"I know that feeling."

"I've had more fun staying in and reading the books you gave me." Pete drained his glass. "Can I get you another?" 

"Please." 

Pete went to the bar and came back with two more drinks. A waitress walked by a minute later and dropped off a basket with two baseball-sized objects that smelled like hot oil. "What are those?" Chasten asked. 

"You've got to try these. They're called scotch eggs. It's a soft boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded and deep fried. A friend introduced these to me when I was at Oxford."

"Sounds like English food." 

The scotch egg was greasy, and salty, and objectively kind of gross. But the savory taste of rich egg yolk and sweet sausage made up for it. "So," Chasten said, after they'd finished the food and their second round. "Did you have anything else planned?"

"Yeah, actually. I've got tickets to a baseball game. Interested?"

Chasten would have said yes to anything. That it was a baseball game was a point in Pete's favor. "Sure." 

At the field, Pete was stopped multiple times by constituents, some of whom were happy to see him and others who demanded to know what he was doing with the sewers. He was polite and open with all of them, even the guy who poked him in the chest and accused him of putting fluoride in the water. "Does that happen every time you go out in public?" Chasten asked, after the man's wife had dragged him away.

"The more imaginative ones aren't as frequent as the nice ones." 

The seats at the field were up in the bleachers, high enough that they could see everything. The South Bend Cubs were playing the Great Lakes Loons, who Chasten was silently rooting for because of their name. Pete took a picture of the field. "That's going on Instagram," he said. Chasten watched him open the app and post the photo with the caption "Good clean fun." "That's a very fifties caption," Chasten said. "Are we going to the malt shop after?"

"No, there's a sock hop at the VFW Hall. But be careful, beatniks smoking reefer might show up."

It was at that moment that Chasten, who had been considering it all evening, decided that he was going to kiss Pete. He took his own picture of the field and put the same caption on it, in quotations. "So why did you want to be mayor?"

"Well - not to talk too much like a politician to you - but I've always wanted to go where I can make myself useful. I ran for State Treasurer a few years ago because I thought the office matched my qualifications and my view of how Indiana could improve. But it was 2010 and Democrats all over the country got shellacked. I lost by about thirty points. I had moved back home from Chicago and I was thinking about my next move when the former mayor announced that he wasn't going to run again. Newsweek had just called South Bend a dying city. It was a hard hit but it wasn't untrue. And I thought, the city's needs matched what I had to offer." 

"And what's next for you, Mister Mayor?"

"Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I'm running for re-election this year. If I have a good second term I might be looked at to run for governor in the future. But that's not set in stone and it's years away. Right now I want to stay in South Bend and be mayor." 

"Good answer."

"Thanks. Now, let me ask you something. Why did you become a librarian?"

"The library was where I felt like I could be myself," Chasten said. "It was my place. I felt safe there, when I was a kid. I was - everyone else knew I was gay before I did. I got bullied, thrown into lockers, beat up. All that. My brothers were out playing football and hunting with our dad and uncles and I was putting on musicals in the basement. If I had a bad day, if I got called a queer at school or my brothers were being jerks, I went to the library. When I was in undergrad I got a part-time job at the town library shelving books. I saw kids just like me, hiding in the stacks and losing themselves in books. Libraries are amazing. They're one of the few places left where you can go and you're not expected to spend money, and you get so much. I wanted to be the person who finds kids like me and lets them know that they're okay."

Chasten blinked. "Sorry. Didn't mean to dump all that on you."

"I thought it was beautiful," Pete said. "You want to be useful too."

"I guess." 

"Don't downplay it. Libraries are bastions of democracy." 

"All are equal in the library. As long as you're quiet."

"If you want to help kids, you should be in the children's room."

"I know. That was my first choice. But they needed someone for adult services." Chasten shrugged. "I was broke. Couldn't say no."

"You'll get there," Pete said. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, watching the game. Chasten's decision to kiss Pete was reinforced. This guy was the mayor but he wasn't just The Mayor. There was a sensitive, intelligent, compassionate person there and no mask in front of it. He was the real thing. 

At the top of the sixth inning, Pete turned to Chasten. "You want to get out of here?"

"Sure." 

Instead of walking back to the car, they wandered over to a bridge with colorful lights shining through it. "We just inaugurated this," Pete said. "We're calling it the River Lights. The 150th anniversary of the founding of the city was a couple months ago and this was the grand finale of the celebration."

"It's beautiful."

"Thanks. I see it as a symbol of how we've been reinventing ourselves. People need clean water and filled potholes and safe housing, and we've accomplished more than a lot of people thought was possible, but people need beauty in life too. Bread and roses. Yes, I want South Bend to attract business and make money, but I want everyone who lives here to be proud of how far we've come. And we're just getting started."

"I feel very welcome here," Chasten said. He took a step closer and let his hand brush against Pete's, and Pete took hold, loosely. "You should be proud."

"I am. And I'm grateful."

They walked back towards the parking lot, listening to the sounds of the city: cars passing, music and voices coming from bars and restaurants, cheering from the ballpark. "There's something I wanted to tell you," Pete said. "The day we met you said you signed the lease on your house on June 16th."

"Yeah, and you told me about  _ Ulysses _ . I'm surprised you remember that."

"It's a significant date for me. It's the day that my favorite book is set on, but it was also the day I came out. I wrote an op-ed for the Tribune and it was published on June 16th. Chasten, I don't believe in fate, but that's pretty amazing."

Chasten remembered what Annie had said about his disinterest in local politics. "I've been out of the loop," he said. "But I won't be anymore."

As they got closer to Pete's car, fireworks began exploding in the sky over them. "I guess the Cubs won," Chasten said.

"It's tradition. Great night for it too." Pete looked at the fireworks, then back to Chasten. He was smiling. "So, did you have a good time?"

Now or never. Chasten let go of Pete's hand, leaned in, and kissed him. He was surprised at first, inhaling sharply and stiffening, but after a second he relaxed and kissed back. When they broke the kiss, Chasten took a step back. He didn't want to crowd Pete. "Better than a plate of warm Jello?"

"Definitely," Pete said, and they both laughed. 

The drive from the ballpark back to Chasten's house was quiet. There was no need to say anything. When Pete pulled up to the curb and parked, he said, "That was - by far - the best date I've ever been on. I know I haven't been dating for very long, but it was."

"I've been dating for years," Chasten said. "It was the best."

"I'd love to see you again. There's so much I want to show you."

"You know where to find me." Chasten leaned over and gave Pete a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Goodnight." 

Pete waited until Chasten was inside before he drove away. 

\--

On Monday afternoon, Chasten was labeling new books and stamping the inside covers when the door swung open. "I loved this and I'd like you to get me the next one," Pete said, sliding  _ Tales of the City _ across the counter. "And will you go out with me on Friday night?"

"Yes," Chasten said. "Yes, I will. Yes."


End file.
